Abstract:
PbHgS ternary thin films were grown on glass substrates at 300K by the electroless (solution–growth method). The as grown films were characterized for elemental composition using the energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) and colorimetric methods. The optical constants (index of refraction n, extinction coefficient k, and absorption coefficient α) were determined using the absorption (A), the transmission (T), and the reflection (R), at normal incidence of light in the wavelength range of 200-850nm The film has high absorption of about 70% in the UV region but very low reflectance throughout the entire spectrum. The average index of refraction is 2.12 and average extinction coefficient of 1.39 x10-2. An index of refraction of n > 2.0 makes the material a good candidate for protective coatings in agriculture and architecture. The plot of (αhν)2 = f (hν) showed that the material is a direct bandgap material with a bandgap of about 3.70eV. The high absorbance of the films made them good materials for large area selective coatings for photo-thermal conversion of solar energy.
